BUTTER AND MEAT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 271, 15 November 1943, Page 4

BUTTER AND MEAT

INCREASE PRODUCTION

APPEAL BY MR. MULHOLLAND

WANGANUI, Saturday

Making an appeal for increased production, Mr. W. W. Mulholland, Dominion president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, addressing farmers at the Wanganui show to-day, said that an additional two pounds in weight on each export lamb would mean 10,000 tons of extra meat for the people of the United Kingdom.

'We are carrying on production under difficulties and it may be that some of these difficulties are due to bad administration and mistakes," said Mr. Mulholland. "Some of them could have been avoided, but at the same time the issues at stake in the present war are so great that we cannot hesitate in our efforts." Food was one of the most difficult and most important of all the factors involved in an Allied victory. The demands on 'New Zealand's sources of production were constantly increasing, but these demands must be met, Mr. Mulholland continued. Britain was urgently in need of every ounce of butter and meat that New Zealand could produce. Dairy production in New Zealand Had fallen, due mainly to seasonal conditions, but part of the decline could be attributed to other causes. One reason was the large number of older people who had been forced to work too long on farms and were becoming weary.

"It is all a question of manpower." Mr. Mulholland added. "In my opinion, a man on a farm to-day is worth more than a man in the armed forces. I would ask the Government to give earnest consideration to these questions."